Great Reads

 

I've shared a few books over the years and I wanted to make a spot for all of them.  I'm sure I'll add to them, but for now here is a great list of books to help you not only save money, but also do better for the planet as well.  

This post includes affiliate links, which means if you click on the link I get a portion of any sales at NO COST to you.  See my disclosure page for more details. 

1. Naturally Bug Free

This book has many recipes for ways to deter or kill bugs, rodents from your home, pets, self and more. She breaks down the recipes along with the supplies you will need.  She also does a great job of giving you guidelines for what essential oils to use based on age or pets.  At the end of her book she has a great list of resources for where she purchases and more! If you are looking to try and swap your chemically based bug/rodent deterrents this is a great start! I liked this book so much and was trying to use so many recipes I ended up buying my own copy.  I would recommend buying this one instead of just checking it out, but in my opinion always check it out first then buy if you are finding you are using it a lot. 

 2. Just the Essentials 

This is another book that I would recommend owning, just because there are so many different recipes to use and try.  In this book Adrina helps break down essential oils, their potencies and how to use them.  I really like how she helps guide what oils are save for kids and what ones are not.  She has a great collection of homemade recipes for things as simple as perfume all the way up to homemade toothpaste ad deodorant.  If you are looking for ways to switch a lot of your household and beauty/self care products to more natural and homemade, this is a great book option! 

3. Vegetables Love Flowers 

I recently shared this one in my post: Grow Your Own Flower Garden Thanks to this book, I was able to successfully plants flowers in my garden, harvest them for inside enjoyment and help my vegetables grow by having flowers for the pollinators in my garden.  A great resource to have for beginning flower gardening that you want to make work for your garden and inside.  She shows how to cut, when to cut, what to plant and more.  Buy your own copy or check out your local library! 

10 Things to do this Summer

10 Things to do this summer that are cost friendly.  My version of cost friendly, about $10.00 or less.  Free is always my top choice though.

1. Movie:

Let the kids pick their favorite movie, make some popcorn, turn down the lights and have a movie party.  You can even take it a step further, have them invite some friends, make homemade tickets, grab some sleeping bags and make a night of it!

2. Water play:

1, Tarp with hose ~ Grab that tarp, grab the hose and let the kiddos go!
2. Kiddie pool
3. Buckets of water and squishy water balls ~ Let them have their own water fight in the backyard.

3. Outside Scavenger Hunt

Check out this great site.  Treasure.run.  You can also check out my review here.

4. Parks

Every town or city has a park.  Try out different parks, take a day and plan a new park adventure.  You'll be amazed at how just changing up a park can be fun for the kids.

5. Picnic

Grab that picnic basket (or anything you have to hold your food), a blanket and some yummy food and go for a picnic.  You don't even need to go far, your backyard or the local park works well.

6. Bike ride

You're never too old or young for a bike ride.  My Baby Girl is just getting into riding a bike, but before that she could ride a trike just well.  We might not have been able to go far, but we could still ride as a family.

7. Start a small garden veggie or plants. 

Get your kiddos to help plant, water and maintain the plants.  They love helping and most kids love getting dirty too so it's a win win! 

8. Walk with a friend(s)

For 4 years now a friend and I have walked almost every day in the summer together.  4 years and not only is this a great thing to do in the summer, but we've really grown in our friendship because of it!   Now that we both have kids the walking is a little different; however, we have a routine to walk every morning and for 1 hour in the morning we are occupied.

9. Make homemade popsicles

You can make these however you please, here are a few different recipes that I've tried

10. Check out your local library

The library is always having something.  Check out your local library to see what's happening.  This one can also be carried through for fall/winter for any of you who stay at home.  Again there's always something happending at the library.

This post includes affiliate links, which means if you click on the link I get a portion of any sales at NO COST to you.  See my disclosure page for more details. 

Library

A couple weeks back our town library had their annual book sale, which they host during National Library week every year. This is such a great way to buy books without spending much. I was able to get all of the books below for only $2.20!!  

Most libraries host a book sale at least once a year. It's a great way for them to rotate out books, and for people to buy books for fairly cheap.  

Now, they aren't the newest books, they're typically the ones that have been in the library for some time. But, the library has the new books as well for you to check out. And guess what, you can check out the books for free!  

The Library has 100's of free books! Which is something I think a lot of us take for granted. Seriously, next time you see a book you really want, check to see if your local library has it first. It will save you money and trying to find a spot for that new book in your home. Plus if they don't have the book, libraries have this awesome thing called inter-library loan. They can check the book out for you through another library (depending on where you live there may be a postage fee for this).  

Libraries also have movies, TV Shows & some even have games, that again you can check out for free!

Not to mention libraries are always having some program or activity going on, that again, you guessed it, is free! Talk about some great family fun for and I can't stress this enough, free! 

So next time you're wanting a new book, TV show, movie or even game check out your library first. They may be able to save you that $20-$40 you were going to spend.